Five days after competing at the FloTrack Throwdown, Wais Khairandesh received word that he was officially selected to represent Afghanistan at the World Championships in Beijing. 

 

The Afghan-born runner is the national record-holder in the 800m at 1:55. He ran two seconds off of the mark Saturday in Portland, Oregon in a field that included Olympic finalist Duane Solomon and World Championships qualifier Cas Loxsom. In May, Wais won both the 800m and 1500m at Afghanistan’s national championships. It was the first time Wais had returned to his native country since his home was bombed by the Taliban 16 years ago. 

 

Since the championships, Wais has been waiting patiently on the Afghanistan track and field federation’s decision to send him to the World Championships. Since he never ran the IAAF standard mark of 1:46.00, it was up to the track federation to decide if he should represent Afghanistan at the World Championships.

 

“I wanted to tell you that after continued calls with the federation, they finally gave in and will allow me to compete in China,” Wais wrote in an email exchange.

 

The announcement marks Wais’ first World Championship performance of his career. 

Read his full story here.